How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
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How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
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Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#2From mildweed's comment in the CalTech thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1455037
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#3We got this:
"Recognizing that many of you may have childcare obligations that may create a personal challenge for you please seek approval from your manager to deviate from the above and don’t allow your personal schedule to take priority over your need to support your team’s efforts to service the customer."
A lot of people where I work didn't particularly like the tone of that.
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#4From the comments:
My sister used to work for a large multinational that pressured people to come in on Saturdays. The employees would come in but they would work on personal tasks like paying bills and balancing their checkbooks. It was all for appearance and it just pissed off the employees. She left the company after this pressure started. Part of her Saturday "work" was looking for a new job.
In my experience this is par for the course. Sure, you can force employees to spend more time in the office, but past a certain point they'll just find ways to satisfy your crazy demands only in the most technical sense possible.
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#5Looks like someone needs to read The Mythical Man Month.
(I know TMMM is about specifically software engineering but for a CEO to think that bums on seats==productivity is fairly depressing)
On a aide note - Americans! Move to Europe! Our economy is collapsing too but we're having a much better time watching it happen...
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#6"I think this parental type action SUCKS. However, what you are doing, as managers, with this company makes me SICK. It makes sick to have to write this directive. I know I am painting with a broad brush and the majority of the KC based associates are hard working, committed to Cerner success and committed to transforming health care. I know the parking lot is not a great measurement for 'effort'. I know that 'results' is what counts, not 'effort'. But I am through with the debate."
This part proves that this guy is the worst kind of douchebag: one that knows what he is doing is stupid and heavy handed, and yet does it anyway.
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#7Never confuse movement with action.
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#8"I think this parental type action SUCKS. However, what you are doing, as managers, with this company makes me SICK. It makes sick to have to write this directive. I know I am painting with a broad brush and the majority of the KC based associates are hard working, committed to Cerner success and committed to transforming health care. I know the parking lot is not a great measurement for 'effort'. I know that 'result…
On the company's web site there's a page about him (he's the CEO): http://cerner.com/public/Cerner_2.asp?id=27586
In that it says: "Cerner associates extol Neal for his passion and foresight, his ability to drive change within organizations, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his candid, uninhibited conversational style."
So that's just a candid, uninhibited conversational style :-)
Note that that message was sent in 2001. If you chart CERN against the NASDAQ over the last 10 years you'll see that the memo hasn't hurt company stock price one bit.
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#9The fact that the CEO sends emails with subject lines such as " MANAGEMENT DIRECTIVE: Week #10_01: ..." (with "directives" numbered by week and sequence) should have been warning enough.
update: Google Finance and Reuters show that the Chairman and CEO of Cerner in 2006 is still in the position today. Looks like their stock has recovered from this "20% drop nicely": http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:CERN
Re: How to kill a company's morale in one easy memo
#10Man this is terrible management and exactly the type of thing that just asks for backlash.
Where's the students of history? When you create a police state like this in a company, control will be lost, morale will fall and productivity crashes. Abusing your force only makes it worse.